We all wanted to know what it was like to visit China for the first time so website club decided to interview Miss Clayton and Mr Tait.

Interview with Miss Clayton by Amelia Eddy and Jake Lomas

1. What was similar about our school and what was different?

The school in Dalian was much bigger than Brumby, there were about 800 children, lots of staff that were all teachers – but no teaching assistants. The classroom are much bigger as there are about 40 – 45 children in each class. Children sit in pairs as desks not in groups of 6 or 8 so they don’t have many opportunities to get involved in group or discussion work.

2.Was it strange being in a school that you have never been to before?

It was very strange not knowing anyone and not being able to speak or understand the language, but they were very welcoming and extremely kind. The children were excited to meet us, especially when we first arrived and there was an amazing parade of children waving streamers and flowers. It was a fantastic welcome ceremony!

3.Were the children and teachers nice?

They were all lovely, very friendly and smiley. Mr Tait and I spent a lot of time with the English teachers who took us around the school, into different classes, showed us around Dalian and took us to some interesting traditional Chinese restaurants.

4.Did any of the children talk English?

Most of the children spoke English in China as they begin learning the language at 6 years old. The older children spoke English fluently and were keen to ask us lots of questions about England and our school. We had a meeting with a group of children who represented each year group ( a bit like our school council) and they asked some good questions. One child wanted to know about the subjects that we learn about in English schools. The funniest question from the children was ‘Who is you favourite super hero?’ and he then told us that he liked spider man and did a really fun impression!

5.What were the most exciting things you did in China?

Teaching my Robin Hood lesson was great fun and the children seemed to really enjoy it too! I particularly enjoyed going to Bejing as they were preparing for the Olympics and the city was so busy and exciting. While we were in Bejing we also went to watch a Kungfu show which was amazing, the actors and performers were so talented. There were even young children involved in the show who could perform somersaults in the air, high kicks and break pieces of wood with their bare hands… and even their heads!!

6.Did you walk the Great Wall of China?

I did visit the Great Wall and went in the cable car ride to get onto the wall, but I’m afraid it was a bit too long to walk the whole distance so I walked a little way and had a good look at the view. It was quite foggy the day that we visited but even with the fog or ‘smog’ as it is in China you could still see for miles! I did manage to do a bit of shopping while I was there too! I bought some great souvenirs to show everyone back in England.

7.Where did you go in China?

We visited so many different places its hard to remember, it was really tiring but very interesting. I really enjoyed the trip around the Hutong (a poor area in Bejing). We travelled through the back streets in a tricycle carriage – it was very bumpy as there were no proper road surfaces, but good fun. It was very interesting going into a house and seeing how small and basic they were. It was very difficult to imagine living in those conditions as we are so used to such lovely things and large spaces being around us all the time. It made me feel very lucky! But not everyone in China lives in this type of house, there are many larger comfortable family homes in Dalian and Beijing.

Interview with Mr Tait

Where did you go in China?

For the first part of the week we were based at our link school in Dalian. The Chinese people think this a very small city; it has a population of 6 million! Not much smaller than London! It is a coastal city and has many attractions for tourists. However there are not many Western people there and some people had never seen an English person before.

After working in the school we moved on to the capital city of Beijing, we were based here for the remainder of the trip. This city is enormous with a population well over 20 million! From here we visited many tourist places to collect resources for school. During our stay we visited the Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China, The Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, The Hutong and many more.

Did you walk along the Great Wall of China?

Yes I did walk along the Great Wall of China. It was a misty day so you couldn’t see much more than one or two hundred meters along it. But you could see what an incredible achievement it was to have built it so many years ago. We had to get a cable car to the top and then you could walk along it. We walked about 3 miles in total I guess and we couldn’t have done much more in the time allocated. There are many more miles to see! We were restricted to how far you could walk because some of the wall is now damaged and therefore unsafe.

What foods did you have in China?

Chinese food is very different to how I imagined it to be. For example, whilst we were in China, I think I only ate rice and noodles once or twice and I was expecting it with every meal. They eat lots of meat, including some things that we do not eat. Things like frogs, snails, jelly fish and many more! They eat a lot of raw meat and consider sea food a real delicacy. Chopsticks were a great experience, frustrating at first but I got much quicker with them. The food in China is very different to our Chinese restaurants and takeaways, the food here has been westernised to our taste.